Parev Giliguia !

After few months of silence, it might be time to put here’s news up to date…

What happened in my armenian horizons during the last months may not be interesting since it lost its topicality but let’s just mention quickly what comes to my mind to fill my duty :

- Bibliothèque nationale de France is looking for any Armenian publications of France, they have an important Armenian collection but they’d like to complete it seriously, it's again one of the nice suites of France official year of Armenia (last year) :o)

- Gas’ last blues album has been launched last june, and had a specific concert for it in St Etienne last april, of course i went ;op

the album called "oriental mood" is very colored with “arevelyan mood” and also hosts some haunting ghosts of Gaspard's past (http://www.myspace.com/gasblues), but let's be straight : album just great in my opinion !

- The London Times Archives are available for free on the net ... archives since 200 years !!http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive/ lots of articles if you make a search about "armenia" so use it well !!!

- and a rather unpleasant feeling that Armenia, its population and lovers around the world arrived to a sad turning point; this last point of view is not easily lived of course, and also has difficulties to be expressed since most of armenians are really unwilling to talk openly critically about armenianity, but in fact the critics would be rather virulent… so let’s hope, and keep on working for better days...

About more recent things now (and maybe more satisfying), I just finally visited Basilique St Denis where rests the Kings of France... and where also lies the last King of Armenia (who was French in fact, Léon de Lusignan, King of Cilicia), here's the pics taken last weekend.

I had to go there since years but since it's here, you know what it is : always deferring... until an innocent Italian friend proposed to go there for tourism purposes. I couldn’t decently refuse ! ;o)

It was a nice visit, thanks to the official year of Armenia, more detailed explanations were available in French, English, and Armenian (!!!), for our old last king Leon and Armenia’s history, nice point !

Urish ? The freshest point : after summer holidays, schools and universities re-opening, another Armenian academic event that took place this week : http://aiea2008paris.free.fr
It’s a rather important colloque (lots of conferences) about many various Armenian studies, during 3 days from 10th to 12th of september. The schedule of the lectures is linked to in the web-page above, showing that it reunites academics of many kind and places.

To tell the true, I don’t know much more about it, and it didn’t receive specific communication in Armenian usual medias so it’s passing without much notice amongst Armenians here. It seems to be really specifically dedicated to professional academics. The only reason why I know about it is because some Venice Armenian friends arrived this week in Paris to take part to those conferences, and so I enjoyed their presence again :o)

These friends are worthy to mention also cause they’re academics of Venice University, linked to Padus-Araxes Association who organises summer intensive courses of Armenian language and culture since more than 20 years. http://www.padus-araxes.com/

I participated to this summer course few years ago and still meet those highly noble, cultivated and open-minded people with great happyness. Furthermore, what goes on during this intensive course is something unique that can’t be described in few lines. As a short glance it’s enough to notice that people who once attended this course usually come back, encourage others to participate, and still meet each other with the same extreme pleasure. Such it was for me, as well as for other friends’. It’s the kind of experience that entertains hope, for humanity or more humbly for any other improvement you’d like to see around you.

So let’s quote Bobby McFerrin’s sacred lyrics : Don’t worry Be happy !

Ciao-cio !